


Cuddle Up A Little Closer

by jaerie



Series: Getting To Know Your Hybrid, An Owner's Manual [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Animal Traits, Cat Ears, Cat/Human Hybrids, Fluff, Hybrid Louis, Hybrids, Shy Harry, Sleepy Cuddles, Social Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 00:48:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14842400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaerie/pseuds/jaerie
Summary: Harry's therapist suggests that he should get a pet.  Liam might have found the perfect one for him.





	Cuddle Up A Little Closer

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little fluffy ficlet that doesn't really have a plot but is still fun and cute and I wanted to so here it is
> 
>  
> 
> **I hate that this has to be said but here we go. I do not allow any of my works to be translated or reposted to any platform. This includes, but is not limited to, Wattpad, Tumblr, other AO3 accounts. Reposting and “giving credit” is not an authorized use of my content. Any translations or reposted material will be reported immediately.**

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t Harry’s fault that he was shy.  

He wouldn’t say his social anxiety was crippling exactly (his therapist would disagree), but it did mean he found himself alone the majority of the time.  The few friends he had made over the years had all moved on, their relationships dwindling down to electronic communication. Harry found he was okay with that.  It just always felt like too much work to put himself out there, to interact with other people if he didn’t have to. It rarely seemed worth the effort. Most of the time he wouldn’t even call it an anxiety anymore.  It was just exhausting. 

Maybe he should have seen it coming when his therapist wanted him to push himself out of his shell and urged him to take a first step and get a pet.  He had become acutely aware of his odd behaviour from spending so much time alone and the way she had suggested the stepping stone of animal interaction just confirmed his suspicions.  He had definitely started to become a little weird. He didn’t mind weird but preferred to refer to it as quirky.

“I’ve been telling you that for years,” Liam told him on the phone later once he had finished whining about the suggestion. “That’s why I send you pictures of cute dogs all the time.”

“Liammmmmm,” okay, maybe not finished whining, “I don’t know anything about taking care of a pet.  What if I feed it too much or poison it or something?? I can’t even keep my tomato plants alive long enough for tomatoes!” 

“You’re thinking about it too much.  Why don’t you come in and I’ll take you over to the shelter.  We just had a couple full grown hybrids dropped off that seem nice and already house trained.  That will make it so much easier. They take care of themselves more than normal animals do. I think you’d have to actively try to kill one in order for that to happen.” 

Liam worked on the vet side of an animal center and it always seemed like a chaotic environment whenever he told stories.  Harry wasn’t sure it was worth the stress and anxiety to even step into the building. His hesitation must have stretched out too long while he thought about it.   

“If you don’t at least stop by and give it a chance I’ll just drop off one of my boas for you to borrow for a while.”

Harry nearly screamed at the thought.  There was no way he was allowing any type of reptile near him.  

“Okay fine.  But I’m only looking.  And only so you keep the snakes away from me.”  

 

~

 

Harry found himself standing outside of the clinic just over an hour later.  It had taken him a bit of time to psych himself up, but it was only Liam and Liam knew how he was.  Liam would never force him into a situation if he seemed uncomfortable– had never in the past anyway. 

“It’s after hours.  There’s only a few emergency staff still hanging around,” Liam said as he met Harry at the door.  

Harry was grateful and trailed after Liam through the staff hallways that connected the clinic to the shelter.  The sound of barking dogs made it to his ears even before Liam opened the door. 

“I don’t think I can handle something barking in my house all day,” Harry whined, staying close to Liam’s back, almost hiding behind him.  

“So don’t get a dog,” Liam just shrugged and led him down to a kennel space that seemed much more inviting than the rest. It seemed that someone had gone out of the way to spoil the animal kept in it.

There in the corner was a large ball of fur curled up on a big circular pillow.  The colour was brown and marked with darker spots and stripes in no particular pattern.  It faded up into shaggy hair on top of its head with pointy ears sticking out at the top.  

“What is that?” Harry asked, unable to hide the awe in his voice.  He’d seen hybrids before but they usually ended up taking on more human characteristics or were very small.  The animal in front of him seemed the opposite. 

“He’s some type of bobcat hybrid we think.  We were looking them up online when we got him and they are worth a crazy amount of money.  Like hundreds of thousands.”

“So why don’t you sell him?  Wouldn’t that make a lot of money for the shelter?”  

Harry couldn’t take his eyes off the cat who had started to move his tail and stretch out his paw-like hands.  

“Can’t.  We can only charge the standard adoption fee for any animal being adopted out.” Liam shrugged.  

“So adopt him and sell him.”  

“Can’t.  Everyone has to sign a contract that’s legally binding and keeps the animals from ending up being dumped or ending up back at the shelter.  All vet visits for shots, getting them fixed, check ups– all of that has to be done here at the clinic or provide documentation of care if they move.  I’d get fired and you’d get fined if you did it.” 

“Oh.” 

Liam slipped his master key into the lock on the chain link fence door, the noise startling the large cat.  Harry froze when he saw the hybrid’s face. His eyes were striking, eyebrows expressive and his nose flattening out to that of a kitten’s, fur lines only starting around that point and covering the space where his long white whiskers were present from just above his lips.  It was almost like looking at a boy that had just come from having his face painted at a carnival. The twitch of his pointed ears brought it into reality though, longer hairs with tufts of white making the tips more defined. 

“He’s gorgeous,” Harry breathed but hesitated to follow Liam into the kennel.  

“I think a rich family got bored with him or something.  I heard some fancy woman dropped him off but made someone go out and get the carrier out of the car.  Something about her kids losing interest. Sad really. These are trophy animals, show animals, the kind people take pride in.  I can’t imagine him being some impulse purchase for the kids.”

Liam walked over and the cat only showed a bit of hesitation before standing and moving off the giant pillow.  He almost came up almost Liam’s waist but was sleek and slender, delicate and majestic with every movement. 

“His tag said his name is Louis.”  The cat perked up at his name, stretching out before rubbing against Liam’s legs like any other normal sized house cat.  “So, what do you think? We’d all rather see him go to someone we know but all of us already have too many pets to take him in.”  

“Yeah, okay,” Harry breathed out before he let himself think about it.  He didn’t want to see such a beautiful creature fall into the wrong hands either and surely he couldn’t accidentally kill something of that size.  It would probably kill and eat him first before that would happen. Survival of the fittest, food chain and all that. 

“Great!  I’ll go grab someone to fill out the paperwork!” 

Liam left him alone with the cat in the kennel, closing but not locking the gate behind him.  

It was suddenly awkward.  

He wasn’t sure how but apparently only he could make things socially awkward between himself and an animal.  Maybe it was the way Louis looked at him with such a human expression, the way his eyes were so expressive as they evaluated him from across the small space.  

“Uh, hi,” Harry gave a small wave and then blushed for feeling so stupid. 

The cat cocked its head to the side and sat down, his tail wrapping around over his front paws.  He may have been bred as a bobtail hybrid but some other gene had been spliced in to give him an elegantly long tail that came to a dainty point.  

“So, um, Louis?  Do you want to come home with me?”  He felt stupid talking to an animal.  Exactly how was this supposed to help him?  It wasn’t like it could understand or comprehend anything he was saying.  

He sighed and sat down against the wall, rubbing his eyes as he tried to tell himself all the reasons why his therapist had said it was a good idea.  

Something cool and wet and then a puff of breath against the back of his hand made him jump a mile.  Louis had somehow silently crossed the space and had been sniffing his skin curiously. The cat jumped with him, regarding him with caution but not yet running away after being startled.  

“I’m sorry.  I’m not really good with animals.  Or people either, really.” He let out a small self deprecating laugh and dropped his head, sighing as he folded his hands into his lap.  

The press of a paw was firm but gentle against his thigh and Harry slowly looked up to the cat curiously sniffing at his face again.  His paws were a strange mix between human and feline, longer fingers with claws but softer and plushier pads on the bottom of his palms.  They probably had nowhere near the dexterity of human fingers but could be assumed they had more than cats. 

“You’re quite interesting,” Harry said as he began to catalog the hybrid’s feature.  Every part of him was intricate and detailed, the position of each hair and line seeming perfectfully placed.  He thought he could spend hours just sitting and admiring what he was like. He was just so beautiful. The cat let out a small noise and pushed his forehead into Harry’s cheek, rubbing against him in a way that tickled Harry’s skin but made him smile.  

“Okay, hi,” he smiled, reaching up to tentatively pet the animal’s head.  “I guess you’re not so bad. You’re really soft.” 

By the time Liam came back, Harry had a lap full of overgrown kitten, the large animal purring and already half asleep.  

“Well I see you two have made friends,” Liam smiled and then they made it all official.  

 

~

 

Owning a pet was expensive.  Harry hadn’t even taken the hybrid home and already he had spent hundreds of dollars.

The more he had put in his cart, the more he began to think that Liam was just trying to make some commission off him.  By the time he was ready to leave, he’d purchased a cat bed, bowls, food, toys– everything he would need since he had absolutely nothing back at home.  

“You really don’t have to buy those gourmet meals,” Liam frowned when Harry started to load them into one of his reusable grocery bags.  They were individually packaged and had come from the small refrigerated section of the pet shop. “It is perfectly healthy just to get the hybrid kibble.”  

Harry paused. 

“He looks too much like a person to feed him dry food out of a bag, Liam.  I would feel too guilty eating in front of him.” 

“He won’t starve if you change your mind.  That’s what we’ve been feeding him here and he’s been fine.”  

“And you’d eat the food they’d give you if you were in prison, too, if it meant going without.” Harry rolled his eyes and then shoved his credit card at Liam and made him complete the transaction with the cashier.  

“They aren’t in prison,” Liam mumbled as they made their way to load everything into Harry’s small car. 

“A nice prison,” Harry shrugged, opening the hatch to shove everything in the back.  It barely fit but he needed the backseat for the large pet carrier that was waiting for him at the next door.  

“Are you going to be okay?” Liam asked once they’d maneuvered the carrier into the car with the large cat inside, securing it so it wouldn’t move around too much.  

“Wait!  Don’t I need, like, a litter box or something?”  Harry spun around. 

“Should be toilet trained I’d imagine.  Or let him out in the courtyard if he has any accidents.  The larger cats usually figure those things out on their own.  I’ll call you to set up a time to bring him in for the rest of his shots and stuff, okay?” 

Harry was nervous about being left on his own with his new pet but Liam couldn’t stay with him forever.  Plus, it wouldn’t look good if he couldn’t even bring a pet home without relying on someone else to take care of things when it became difficult for him.  Shying away from things that weren’t easy for him was part of the problem. 

In hindsight, making Liam come home with him probably would have been a good decision.  Getting the heavy carrier up the stairs to his second floor apartment was something he hadn’t thought about.  Uncertain of his behaviour in a new place, Harry was too worried the cat would bolt if he let him out to walk up the stairs himself. Then he’d really be screwed. 

It took him four trips to get everything into his apartment and, by the end, he was sweating.  

“I hope you appreciate all of this,” Harry told Louis while he ripped the tags off the toys and bed, discarding them before finding a good place in the corner near the window to make up a cat area.  

Louis just watched him with curious eyes from the behind the metal bars of the carrier, crouched down and jumpy with every new sound.  That worried Harry and, after everything was settled, sat down at his computer to do a quick search on the best way to introduce a hybrid to a new environment.  The last thing he wanted was for the large cat to get spooked and destroy everything out of terror or hide under the bed for days. Luckily he didn’t have a lot of rooms so, at the suggestion of the experts, closed the door to his bedroom so there would be one less space to immediately explore and cautiously opened the door of the travel carrier.  

“You don’t have to come out yet, but when you do–” 

The animal zoomed past him and straight to the sliding glass doors leading out to his patio.  There was a loud boom when the cat ran into it at full force that stunned him for a moment before it turned and scrambled to hide under the couch.  

All Harry could do was stand there and watch it all happen with an open mouth.  

Quite frankly, he was more shocked that the glass hadn’t shattered than he was about Louis’ reaction.  He had been expecting Louis to either bolt or cautiously slink out of the carrier, just not so violently.  

Not wanting to upset the cat further, he sat back down with his computer and began to work.  Maybe once he was used to the smells of a new place he would calm down. If not, he’d just call Liam.  

 

~

 

Louis hated being indoors.  The air was always too cold or too stuffy and stale.  The sun through the windows only warmed part of his body and always glared through the glass in a way that made his eyes ache.  There was no space to run. 

The first days he spent pacing, circling the perimeter of every inch of the apartment and not finding even one small space to escape.  The carrier that had brought him in had blocked his view, not even sure how he had even become trapped in this new place to begin with.  He’d tried to paw at the latches of the windows and jump at the handles of the doors but they were round ones that he couldn’t just pull down.

The last people who had him let him outside to roam every night.  Of course the collar he could never get off forced him back each morning but at least there had been some freedom.  He was at least free from that heavy contraption around his neck but was never allowed out to prowl around on his own.  He’d made a lot of friends in this old neighborhood, most of them only allowed out at night as well. He’d grown especially close to all the ladies of his kind and he was pretty sure he’d sired quite a few kittens though they were never kept around for long enough for be sure.  Not like it mattered since he only did it because he liked it, not because he wanted to deal with kittens. 

It felt like it had been years since the last time he’d caught a whiff of something arousing and he never thought that he would have missed those acts until they were gone.  It had always been just a fun way to pass the time but apparently his body actually needed it. There were a few cats he’d seen off their patio a few times. They were only on the second story with a view of the courtyard and it seemed that a lot of owners let their animals out though they were much smaller and looked different than his old friends.  They taunted him as they freely climbed up to his level, presenting to him just out of his reach. All he could do was whine and paw at the windows. One day he’d figure out how to get through them but he never could no matter how hard he tried. 

At least the food was nice and he didn’t have to spend the time to catch it if he wanted a treat.  That was one of the positives. One of the only positives. That and this new person never pushed him out of the bed when he jumped up which was nice since his blankets were so soft and warm.  

There were no small humans to drag him around either.  Just one large human who usually left him alone unless he initiated the contact himself.  This one always stroked his fur gently or rubbed his bare belly if he made it available and he was glad that, for once, he didn’t have to watch over his shoulder for sticky hands or scolding swats.  

Timidly at first, he had even tried to lay on top of the human or curl up in his lap and he was always allowed instead of being pushed back down to the floor.  That was nice, too. He loved to be warm and held like he had been when he was a kitten though it rarely happened once he had grown to his full size. 

This one also seemed happy when he would tease the tip of his tail in front of his face and smile when he kneaded his paws against his body.  Louis wasn’t quite sure what to call him yet but, since he was gentle and soft, Louis thought he was worthy of something other than person or human as he’d always thought of the others.  

“You’re very sweet when you want to be,” the human said to him early one morning when they were still curled up in bed.  He took one of Louis’ paws between his hands and began to inspect it. Louis only allowed it because the massage on the plushy sensitive pads made him purr.  He’d only ever allowed a few humans to have such access without extending his claws. He’d forgotten how nice it felt and also that it made him feel sleepy. 

His tail flipped lazily and he curled in his fingers when it tickled but otherwise let the human touch.  Even though cats were a tactile bunch in general, he’d never had anyone focus their attention on him in such a way.  The white coat humans always poked him or held him down while they prodded, the little humans were always too rough and the big ones usually just pushed him away.  This one spent much of the day touching him in one way or another. He had to admit he was feeling a little spoiled from it. 

“Sometimes it seems like you can understand me,” the human was speaking softly and nuzzling his face into Louis’ fur, “And other times it’s obvious that you can’t.” 

Louis made a noise in response and flipped his tail.  Just because he couldn’t form human words didn’t mean he was stupid.

“It’s still nice to talk to you, though.”

Louis squirmed around until he was able to push his face up under his human’s chin, rubbing against his face as he began to purr.  Even if he couldn’t go outside, Louis figured snuggling with his human was probably better anyway. 

**Author's Note:**

> [here's a tumblr post](http://jaerie.tumblr.com/post/174555541787/cuddle-up-a-little-closer-nr-35k-by-jaerie)


End file.
